Presidential Debate: Moghalu Vows To End ASUU Strikes If Elected

The presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Professor Kingsley Moghalu, says his administration will put an end to strikes by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) if he is elected President.

Moghalu, who also vowed to be an education president, made the promise at the presidential debate organised by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria which was held at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Saturday.

He said: “We will invest in how our children learn … then we will invest in educational infrastructure and finally, I will end ASUU strikes in Nigeria,” he said at a debate in Abuja on Saturday.

“When I say that I will be the education President of Nigeria, the YPP is committed and my government will make secondary school education free in this country.”

Moghalu, who offered solutions to the challenges in the economic and health sectors, said he has what it takes to improve the education system.

He added that he would invest “very heavily” in the public school system of the country, saying the education was worthy of his administration’s priority.

The YPP candidate revealed that while only about seven per cent of the nation’s budget is allocated to education; his administration would begin the first budget of 2020 with not less than 20 per cent of it devoted to education.

He, however, noted that this was not enough as increasing the budgetary allocation for the sector does not mean its problems would be solved.

“The YPP has a very strong attachment to education and I happen to be a professor myself, so I have very practical experience in this area,” Moghalu noted.

“The first thing that our government will do is that we will bring to education a political will to make it the priority because the progress of Nigeria rises or falls on the progress of our educational system.”

He added, “We will invest in teacher training, we will re-train and re-certify Nigeria’s teachers at the primary school level, at secondary school level especially.”

The YPP candidate further promised to ensure that they invest in curriculum reform, saying about 60 – 70 percent of the curriculum would be moved towards technology, vocational skills, and entrepreneurship.